Process of making rubber-cored golf-balls.



are. 784,648.

' UNITED STATES Patented March 14, 1905 PATENiT- OFFICE.

PROCESS OF MAKING RUBBER-'CORED- GOLF-BALLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,648, dated March 14, 1905. Applicationiiled April 7, 1904. Serial No. 202,001.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, GEORGE Q. WORTHING- TON, a citizen of the United States, residingat 'Elyria, in the county of Lorainand State of Ohio, have inyented a certain new and useful 1m provement in Processes of Making Rubber- Cored Golf-Balls, of which the following is a universal use are the kind which are known full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

The kind of golf-balls which are in almost as rubber-cored balls. They have a wound rubber core and a gutta-percha shell or cover, and-on the outer surface of this cover are markings of someapproved design, the socalled bramble marking being most genmold, in the surface of which the desired dered plastic and cohesive by heat.

orally used. In themethod of manufacturing such golf-balls heretofore employed the core is first wound. Then-this core is.env'e'l oped by a piece or pieces of gutta-percha ren- The ball is completed by'compressi'on in a two-part i this manner are disposed to crack in use. I

do not think I exaggeratein saying'that approximately twenty per cent-of such covers do crack in actual use, thereby in most cases rendering the balls useless. This tendency to crack is, in'my opinion, due partly to the continuous outward strain upon the cover of the compressed core, partly to the strains in the. gutta-percha cover itself, and partly to the weakening of the cover by cutting off the I relatively large fin formed thereon.'

In making balls according to my invention 1 I proceed in the usual'wayin forming the core and putting on the cover; but the two-part mold employed toshape and compressthe cover is preferably of slightly-larger diameter than the desired ball-say one thirty-secend of an inchand it is smooth.that' is to say,-does not have the markings which areto.

appear on the surface of the ball. The ball is allowed to cool, sufficiently to, set in this:

mold, when it is removed and the fin cut off.

Then'the ball is again heated enoughto per I 'mit the cover to yield slightly to the internal 1,

pressure of the core, but not to render it ma terialiy compressible'bya mold; although its surface must be plastic. This'heating may be effected by shaking the ball in a wire basket over a source of heat; but any method maybe employed. Then the ball in this condition is placed in a mold of the desired size having the desired markings and is com-- pressed therein. The core is not again compressed, or at least not to any injurious extent; but the surface markings are applied. The surplus gutta-percha is squeezed out between the mold-halves, thereby reducing the ball to the proper size. When the surface of the cover is set, the ball is removed and the fin out 01f. Balls soeonstructed are praetically uncrackable in use. v

.Having described my invention, I claim' 1. The process of making rubber-cored golf- 1 balls, which consists in covering a compressible core with gutta-percha in a plastic, cohe sive condition; in compressing and shaping said ball; in allowing the cover to set while subject to pressure; in reheating the cover sufficiently to redder itslightly yielding to the outward pressure of the compressed core and plastic on its surface; in again compress- .ing and shaping the ball, reducing its diameter and applying the desired surface markings thereto; and finally in cutting OR the fin produced thereon during th is last operation.

2. The process of making golf-ball's,which consists in coveringawound rubber core with gutta-perchaina plastic, cohesive condition;

in forming the ball by pressure into asmooth sphere of slightly larger diameter than the finished ball is to be; in allowing the same to cool and set while subject-to pressurepin trimming off the adhering fin; in reheating this cover slightly so that it is slightly yield- In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my iugto the oritgvard pressure of the compressed signature in the presence of two witnesses. core and is "l tic on its surface; in forming GEORGE C WORTHlNGTON said ball by pressure into a sphere of the desired diameter-and having the desired surface Witnesses: markings; and in finally trimming off what- P. S. WILLIAMS, ever fin remains attached to the ball. S. B. LEONARD. 

